How Becoming a Virtual Personal Assistant can Shape your Life and Lifestyle

by Francesca Gransden | Nov 29, 2018

The world of virtual assistance can be daunting to those who are accustomed to the structure of the traditional business world. If you’re used to office culture and teamwork, becoming a VA might be a step in a completely different direction.

But we are here to shed some light on the fantastic benefits of being a VA. With amazing flexibility, ability to specialise in what you enjoy and omit the dreaded hours of commuting – becoming a VA might be the next best thing for you. See what our very own VA Raees has to say about his work at AVirtual.

To shed some light on how becoming a Virtual assistant has changed the lives and lifestyles of our employees we asked them to share their experience and stories.

What is a Virtual Personal Assistant?

Firstly, what is a virtual personal assistant and what makes them so unique? By definition, a VA is an assistant who provides support services to businesses or entrepreneurs from a remote location. With the boom of technological advancements in the 1990s, the term developed to describe those who made working remotely a reality.

Now particularly in demand for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to expand and outsource various responsibilities, VAs are becoming more and more popular as opposed to hiring an onsite permanent member of staff. Read more about how to work with a VA here.

What are the best things about being a VPA?

We asked our staff to answer this question and the term that surfaced the most was freedom. Freedom of hours, freedom to work at home and freedom to adapt their work around their lifestyle choices. Some spoke about having to care for other family members, be it young children or elderly parents which means they cannot commute to a fixed location every day. Some expressed that they were more suited to planning their day around other activities – luckily being a VA allows for the flexibility to do so.

What are the biggest rewards of working as a VPA?

Another benefit which cropped up was the variation of work that being a Virtual PA caters for.

A Virtual Personal Assistant is always learning, whether that be undertaking further training in accounting, researching new social media strategies or simply learning a new online system such as google drive. This means you can constantly develop your skill set and build your knowledge base and are not confined to one particular task day after day.

Another benefit or working as a Virtual Personal Assistant is the ability to choose how much you work and therefore how much you earn. Especially suitable for those with families, you can work as much as you need to.

Unique to AVirtual is that being a part of our company gives you the support and team presence despite the nature of working remotely. The CEO is particularly passionate about instilling and maintaining a company culture which thrives on teamwork and focuses on the bigger picture of the business. Therefore, each VA feels part of a broader team and, as a result, more accountable to each task they complete.

Striking the right work/home balance as a Virtual Personal Assistant

With all this in mind, one key thing to remember is to maintain a good work and home balance. Our Virtual PAs use a timed system called Harvest to track the time spent on various clients’ work. This ensures that this time is solely dedicated to working without distractions. Read more inventive tips for separating your job from your home life as a VA.

How do you start a career as a Virtual PA?

Now you know all the amazing things about becoming a VPA, how do you get started?

We asked our VAs for their top tips for starting out:

Set a work routine preferably with a designated office space to ensure work and home life do not merge into one

Keep it personal – remember to schedule regular check-ins via Skype or email to stay in touch with clients as well as other VAs

Always keep learning and try to stay one step ahead of the game

The Next Steps

So, we hope this has shed some light on the world of a virtual personal assistant. If you’re looking to outsource work to our team, or want to get started on a career with us, find out more today.

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